[Phooey]

@Pioneer4x4 - you are right. Mine is a 'manual trunk issue', meaning you do not have the "Plus Group" which includes the Power Liftgate. Thank you for helping clarify that.

I believe the latch is the same though, isn't it? You should only be missing the power lift feature and the button in the overhead console. The latch should still be the same electronically-activated mechanical latch that we have. It would be stupid from a manufacturing standpoint to use different latches here where it is completely unnecessary.

 

[Pearl]

Today I took my daughter to the airport. In the drop off lane, traffic was such that I didn't want to open the drivers door. I put the car in park (that mattered in my previous car) and she got out the passenger side. She pressed the trunk release button, but the trunk would not open for her.

I realized my foot was on the brake, so lifted it and she tried again. No luck. I turned off the car completely. No luck. Finally I got out of the car with the keyfob in hand. No luck. Locked and unlocked the vehicle with the fob. No luck.

Finally we dragged the luggage out through the back seat (just barely). I drove off and stopped at a store a few miles away and tried again. Still no luck opening the trunk.

I went in the store and shopped for about 15 minutes and came back to the car. This time the trunk opened normally.

What did I do wrong? My daughter travels frequently for work. How can I make sure this doesn't happen again? Luckily, she left her large suitcase at home, because there is no way we could have gotten that through the back seat.

Edit - Pearl is an R/T, external trunk button only

 

[EatsShoots]

Today I took my daughter to the airport. In the drop off lane, traffic was such that I didn't want to open the drivers door. I put the car in park (that mattered in my previous car) and she got out the passenger side. She pressed the trunk release button, but the trunk would not open for her.

I realized my foot was on the brake, so lifted it and she tried again. No luck. I turned off the car completely. No luck. Finally I got out of the car with the keyfob in hand. No luck. Locked and unlocked the vehicle with the fob. No luck.

Finally we dragged the luggage out through the back seat (just barely). I drove off and stopped at a store a few miles away and tried again. Still no luck opening the trunk.

I went in the store and shopped for about 15 minutes and came back to the car. This time the trunk opened normally.

What did I do wrong? My daughter travels frequently for work. How can I make sure this doesn't happen again? Luckily, she left her large suitcase at home, because there is no way we could have gotten that through the back seat.

Edit - Pearl is an R/T, external trunk button only

You did nothing wrong; somehow the engineers behind this car don’t know how to program in the concept of “if trunk button pressed then unlatch trunk”.

next time—with the car off— press, the power button with your foot off the brake. This puts you into accessory mode. Now press that power button again to turn it off.

thus worked for me last time, after the car insisted on it opening the latch.

 

[Sackmonkey]

I assume (please correct me if wrong) that this discussion about the trunk (hidden hatch) and being "R/T Specific" is actually about "non-Plus Group" specific. Since you mention no Frunk, that is a Plus feature, not a R/T or Scat Pack difference.
Should this be clarified as a "Manual Trunk Release" issue? (or something similar)

You're absolutely right and it's good to clarify that point: this is a problem with "Non-plus" option cars.. not R/T trim level. On those cars, our hatches are manual and have no motor assist. There is no button in the cockpit or on the fob.. you only have a button on the rear exterior of the car. I bet this is a super low volume version of the car (and therefore will never garner enough attention for Stellantis to notice and actually fix it), but maybe I'm just being pessimistic.

The problem is not the physical latch mechanism/solenoid itself either. It's software and often power moding the car from Run-->Off->Acc (or whatever pattern) will fix it and the button just starts magically working again. The "The hatch will only open 3-5 times per ignition cycle" is absolutely not the explanation to this problem because many people here (myself included) have had experiences where it's only the first or second time on that ignition cycle when the problem happened. If you think about it, the idea that it's "3-5 times" instead of a specific number seems super strange too. It's software, why wouldn't they know the exact number of times it'll work??

And I have no idea what "based on a current (amperage) threshold" means. It sort of implies that the 12V battery is strained and can't muster up the energy to open the hatch solenoid, which is just crazy. Wouldn't you prioritize your door and hatch solenoids over just about anything else (when the car is parked)?

 

[EatsShoots]

You're absolutely right and it's good to clarify that point: this is a problem with "Non-plus" option cars.. not R/T trim level. On those cars, our hatches are manual and have no motor assist. There is no button in the cockpit or on the fob.. you only have a button on the rear exterior of the car. I bet this is a super low volume version of the car (and therefore will never garner enough attention for Stellantis to notice and actually fix it), but maybe I'm just being pessimistic.

The problem is not the physical latch mechanism/solenoid itself either. It's software and often power moding the car from Run-->Off->Acc (or whatever pattern) will fix it and the button just starts magically working again. The "The hatch will only open 3-5 times per ignition cycle" is absolutely not the explanation to this problem because many people here (myself included) have had experiences where it's only the first or second time on that ignition cycle when the problem happened. If you think about it, the idea that it's "3-5 times" instead of a specific number seems super strange too. It's software, why wouldn't they know the exact number of times it'll work??

And I have no idea what "based on a current (amperage) threshold" means. It sort of implies that the 12V battery is strained and can't muster up the energy to open the hatch solenoid, which is just crazy. Wouldn't you prioritize your door and hatch solenoids over just about anything else (when the car is parked)?

I assumed it’s based on something like a capacitor draining down after 3-5, but as you said that’s unequivocally unrelated to what we are experiencing.

I believe there are a great percentage of non-plus RTs and eventually Dodge will suffer so many service calls over these They’ll have to fix it.

It’s beside the point but bewilderingly absurd that a so-called $60k car lacks an internal trunk release. I’ve own many cars and I don’t actually think I’ve owned another this century (!) that didn’t have this basic feature. I’ve certainly never owned a car with a broken release, so having the two conditions married is a cruel confluence of factors.

 

[Phooey]

You're absolutely right and it's good to clarify that point: this is a problem with "Non-plus" option cars.. not R/T trim level. On those cars, our hatches are manual and have no motor assist. There is no button in the cockpit or on the fob.. you only have a button on the rear exterior of the car. I bet this is a super low volume version of the car (and therefore will never garner enough attention for Stellantis to notice and actually fix it), but maybe I'm just being pessimistic.

The problem is not the physical latch mechanism/solenoid itself either. It's software and often power moding the car from Run-->Off->Acc (or whatever pattern) will fix it and the button just starts magically working again. The "The hatch will only open 3-5 times per ignition cycle" is absolutely not the explanation to this problem because many people here (myself included) have had experiences where it's only the first or second time on that ignition cycle when the problem happened. If you think about it, the idea that it's "3-5 times" instead of a specific number seems super strange too. It's software, why wouldn't they know the exact number of times it'll work??

And I have no idea what "based on a current (amperage) threshold" means. It sort of implies that the 12V battery is strained and can't muster up the energy to open the hatch solenoid, which is just crazy. Wouldn't you prioritize your door and hatch solenoids over just about anything else (when the car is parked)?

I also don't think this is specific to "non-Plus Group" cars. As I mentioned somewhere else, I've been having problems with the button as well. The difference is that I can just just open with the fob or from the overhead console inside. I think there will be far fewer complaints about this from Plus Group owners because the button is not the only way we have to open the hatch.

I fully expect the ICE variants to have the same problem. And it will get fixed eventually, just not soon as our Daytonas are clearly Dodge & Stellantis' red-headed stepchild.

 

[John]

Today I took my daughter to the airport. In the drop off lane, traffic was such that I didn't want to open the drivers door. I put the car in park (that mattered in my previous car) and she got out the passenger side. She pressed the trunk release button, but the trunk would not open for her.

I realized my foot was on the brake, so lifted it and she tried again. No luck. I turned off the car completely. No luck. Finally I got out of the car with the keyfob in hand. No luck. Locked and unlocked the vehicle with the fob. No luck.

Finally we dragged the luggage out through the back seat (just barely). I drove off and stopped at a store a few miles away and tried again. Still no luck opening the trunk.

I went in the store and shopped for about 15 minutes and came back to the car. This time the trunk opened normally.

What did I do wrong? My daughter travels frequently for work. How can I make sure this doesn't happen again? Luckily, she left her large suitcase at home, because there is no way we could have gotten that through the back seat.

Edit - Pearl is an R/T, external trunk button only

As @EatsShoots said, you did nothing wrong. It's a problem with the car and it seems to affect the RT more.

Always have a set of tools in the car, including a flat screwdriver, a trim tool, a 10mm and 8mm wrench and a jump starter.

Good thing it came back to work. Sometimes it just needs you to be away for a few minutes and come back, some other times it needs a 12v Battery reset:

 

[Pearl]

Thanks, I have the screwdriver and the 10mm, What is the 6mm for?

I just picked up a different style switch and I was going to install it on the negative side (interrupt the ground to chassis connection). That will work for a reset?

 

[thandy]

You did nothing wrong; somehow the engineers behind this car don’t know how to program in the concept of “if trunk button pressed then unlatch trunk”.

next time—with the car off— press, the power button with your foot off the brake. This puts you into accessory mode. Now press that power button again to turn it off.

thus worked for me last time, after the car insisted on it opening the latch.

This works for me as well. From what I understand, there is a limited number of trunk unlocks you can do per On/Off cycle, however, cycling on and off did not help the issue! Putting in Accessory mode did!

 

[John]

Thanks, I have the screwdriver and the 10mm, What is the 6mm for?

I just picked up a different style switch and I was going to install it on the negative side (interrupt the ground to chassis connection). That will work for a reset?

It will. My only concern with that is possible warranty issues.

Technically speaking, Stellantis tell the owner in the owners manual to disconnect the negative for storage. So I am 100% sure that they cannot deny warranty if you do that as you can always claim you followed the manufacturer instructions to store the car.

If they find you tempered with the ground connection, they can use that. They will know that if they inspect the car in depth. It will leave traces.

Low chances it will be an issue, It may not be a problem at all.

Just be aware of that.

 

[Pearl]

After reading the other posts, I think I fell victim to the “opened too many times” security feature as we were preparing to leave the house to go to the airport.

That is a “feature” they should disclose and explain. II have to get this figured out before my next airport trip This weekend.

 

[John]

After reading the other posts, I think I fell victim to the “opened too many times” security feature as we were preparing to leave the house to go to the airport.

That is a “feature” they should disclose and explain. II have to get this figured out before my next airport trip This weekend.

We all have fallen for that already.
I honestly hate how the industry is building cars that only rely on electronics and software. I am not against them when they are there to add convenience ON TOP of a reliable mechanism.
Why not keeping it simple? Auto tailgate, great, but also put a freaking manual lever in there. It would be perfect to have both

 

[EatsShoots]

I ardently believe any claims that a 3-5 times per ignition has anything to do with security is straight up BS. It’s a defect in engineering. I would bet my life on the fact I can go out to any of my other cars right now and open the trunk 100 times in a row, at not cost to security.

anyway, remember: that 3-5 times is one documented source of the trunk not opening, but absolutely not the source for all the trunk-opening failures.

 

[John]

I ardently believe any claims that a 3-5 times per ignition has anything to do with security is straight up BS. It’s a defect in engineering. I would bet my life on the fact I can go out to any of my other cars right now and open the trunk 100 times in a row, at not cost to security.

anyway, remember: that 3-5 times is one documented source of the trunk not opening, but absolutely not the source for all the trunk-opening failures.

They say "security" but I believe reality is that they are trying not to drain the 12v battery.

 

[Phooey]

They say "security" but I believe reality is that they are trying not to drain the 12v battery.

That would make sense if you were talking about hatches with powered lift. That does not make sense for base model R/Ts without powered lift. And it makes even less sense when you remember that we're talking about an electric car that has a massive high-voltage battery and BMS that is supposed to wake up and charge the 12V battery when it gets low.

I agree with EatsShoots, but I don't think the defect is in engineering, the defect is again between the ears of the persons responsible for the software.

 

[BussinBriskets]

I got hit with this today, at home thank goodness. The "accessory only" power trick worked.

 

[EatsShoots]

I got hit with this today, at home thank goodness. The "accessory only" power trick worked.

Yep I got it again yesterday—drove 7 miles. Parked. Car off. Trunk won’t open. Did the accessory only on/off, it opened.

 

[Xhausted1]

I got my 2025 Charger Daytona a couple of weeks ago and I’m loving it so far. Only issue that I’ve had so far is that the trunk will randomly get stuck and will not open. Does anyone else have the same issue? If so, does anyone have a trick to get it to work properly? View attachment 2268

I have a Scat Pack and have never had an issue with the hatch until yesterday.
I opened the hatch from the button in the back and put an item in the back and closed it only to realize that I forgot to put something in the car. I opened the hatch and closed it again, but forgot another item. (I'm getting old).
I pressed the button again, and nothing happened, I pressed it a couple more times and nothing. I finally pressed down on the hatch and I heard the familiar whirring sound and the click.
I then pressed the button and it opened normally. I was thinking that it just didn't trigger the closed sensor, or it partially released on one of the button presses but didn't move?
It was strange, but I usually don't repeatedly open and close the hatch.

 

[thandy]

We all have fallen for that already.
I honestly hate how the industry is building cars that only rely on electronics and software. I am not against them when they are there to add convenience ON TOP of a reliable mechanism.
Why not keeping it simple? Auto tailgate, great, but also put a freaking manual lever in there. It would be perfect to have both

A button on the key fob!!! I don't understand why there isn't one. 🤯

 

[Pioneer4x4]

A button on the key fob!!! I don't understand why there isn't one. 🤯